"Some of the songs in the iTunes music library, including the song "(Video name)",were not copied to your iPod because they cannot be played on this iPod."

Luckily, Apple provides a feature called "Convert Selection for iPod" when you right-click.But GEEZ! I already rendered this thing. I've got to do it again? Ugh. OK. And OH NO! The conversion utility takes a RIDICULOUS amount of time! Even on a very fast machine like mine, a 3.2Ghz P4 with 1GB of PC3200 memory, the conversion speed is roughly 1.5 minutes per minute of video. Argh!! That is way TOO slow. But I went ahead and did the conversion with my short test video. On the bright side, once the video was converted, I could then update my iPod and the video was on my iPod. Hooray!!

I continued playing around and loading many different videos into iTunes. In my travels, I stumbled upon one that did not require a conversion. I was shocked! I then reasoned that I'd save a helluva lot of time if I just produced the videos in the format that iTunes expects in the first place. But how to do that? So, my next course of action was to research why that one file worked in iTunes without a conversion and why mine needed the conversion.

To do this, I analyzed the output of MPlayer to determine the differences between files. I learned quite a bit over the past couple of days about audio and video formats by reviewing the output of MPlayer. It helps to have the text of both files displayed in two windows next to each other in order to more easily compare the files line by line. I've done this for you in the image below (click this link with SHIFT-click to open a second browser window):http://content.serveftp.net/video/renderTest/cinItunesConversion.jpg

Reviewing the diffences, I noticed the following:1) iTunes compatible file had the audio track as the first track in the MOV container, my file had the video as the first track2) iTunes compatible file was 44.1Khz audio, my file was 48000Khz3) iTunes compatible file included an extra audio header, my file didn't have the extra header4) iTunes compatible file audio compression method was MPEG-4, my file was twos complement5) iTunes compatible file FPS rate was 15, my file was 59.97

After way too many hours of trial and error (and scowls from my girlfriend and dog), I am proud to say that I have found the settings in Cinelerra that will make an MPEG-4 video totally compatible with iTunes so that iTunes does not need to re-render (the "Convert Selection for iPod" feature) the video!

Here are the specs:

For the project: Set Format Sample Rate to 44100khz Number of Channels to two FPS can be the FPS of your source video (try lower to 25 or less if problems) Width 320 Height 240 (320x180 fine as well) For the render: Audio MPEG-4 Audio Bitrate 128000 Quantization of 100 Video MPEG-4 Video The rest of the parameters are Cinelerra's defaults, but I will reiterate here: Bitrate 7000000 Tolerance 500000 Fixed Quantization selected Quantization 10 Keyframe Interval 45

I don't care how you do it, but you have to get your videos in that formatbecause iTunes is COMPLETELY STRICT when it comes to these settings! If you expect your video to upload into iTunes without needing a re-render, youCANNOT deviate from ANY of these settings!!

Caveat: with the possible exception of the MPEG-4 Video defaults. But Iwould only deviate from the settings after you've got the file uploaded intoiTunes without any issues first.

Why Mule?

"Mules are not really stubborn. They can seem lazy because they will not put themselves in danger. A horse can be worked until it drops, but not so with a mule. The "stubborn" streak is just the mule's way of telling humans that things are not right. Mules are very intelligent and it is not a good idea to abuse a mule. They will do their best for their owner, with the utmost patience."About Mules